Her attacker is serving 34½ years in jail, but Ruth Maxwell had to fight for support. Why?

It is 'fantastic' that Slawomir Gierlowski will spend decades in jail, but Ruth Maxwell says she and other survivors find themselves fighting all the time for everything in a dysfunctional system

'He had cable ties, duct tape, the knife — I was not meant to survive that,' Ruth Maxwell says of her horror attack in 2016. Picture: Bob Morrison

There were times when Ruth Maxwell felt that radio, and the music played on it, was her only comfort. Specifically, the sounds aired on RTÉ’s Late Date by occasional presenter Fiachna Ó Braonáin.

“I used to curl up in a ball in my bed crying listening to Fiachna,” Ruth says. “If I was feeling hopeless Fiachna knew that The Dark Side of The Moon was the only album that could help me.”

She knew the Hot House Flowers performer and, more especially, his bandmate and singer, Liam Ó Maonlaí.

She had been in Liam’s company at the Fleadh in Dalkey just two days before the attack — random, violent, overwhelming — which changed her life. 

After she says she would ask, in her messages to Late Date: “Can music really fix me?”

Slawomir Gierlowski's reign of terror 

What might have broken her was that moment when she was walking to the Luas to go to work in May 2016 and found herself subjected to an attack by roofer Slawomir Gierlowski.

Slawomir Gierlowski had his sentence increased to 34½ years after his series of random attacks on women between 2010 and 2016. Social Media image

He put a hunting knife to her throat and tried to drag her to his van. Ruth grabbed the blade.

It severed the tendons in three fingers.

That action is credited with helping to bring Gierlowski — a Polish father of two who first moved to Ireland in 2008 — to justice.

His DNA and fingerprints were taken as part of the investigation, and matched the samples recovered from a flex and cigarette box following a routine search of the forensic database.

Ultimately it led to a string of convictions — Gierlowski was serving 28 and a half years for attacks on women when, this week, he had his time in prison extended for attempting to strangle a young woman while she was out walking in 2011.

Those random attacks on five women between 2010 and 2016 mean he will now serve a total of 34 and a half years in prison. Ruth says: 

He had cable ties, duct tape, the knife — I was not meant to survive that.

“In my eyes, he would have been escalating up to a serial killer.”

The cumulative length of the sentences has been welcomed, particularly for crimes where the typical observation is that sentences are too light.

For Ruth, a youthful grandmother originally from Dublin, the fact that Gierlowski will spend decades in jail is “fantastic” but, when broken down, each individual sentence is still not appropriate for the terror he wrought.

And the manner in which the various trials were dealt with, unspooling over a period of years, full of stops and starts, points to what Ruth and others believe is a dysfunctional system, one in which the survivor is fighting all the time for everything, in particular when it comes to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal. 

She recalls mounting medical bills and supports not being forthcoming, one thing forever waiting on something else.

“I am alone, I am all alone in my fight, and because random acts of violence, they don’t take the same position in the eyes of experts that other forms of gender-based violence [do]... I have always come up against [from others]: ‘Yes, but yours is a random attack, domestic violence is more serious, statistically, that’s 88% of attacks’ and it’s like, please, don’t say this to me, you’re making me feel like mine means nothing.”

Her voice cracks, adding: “So it’s been a tough road.”

Listening to Ruth outline the various difficulties of someone awaiting justice and seeking help while trials grind on and on, seemingly interminably, brings nods of agreement from Vivienne Carson, therapy services manager with the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. 

She says there is no correlation between the perpetrator being brought to justice and easing the path to recovery for the survivor.

“They will come back to us and say ‘I thought that would be it, that he would be sentenced and I would feel better’,” says Vivienne.

“But that is not an antidote or the cure for their issues. The trauma is within the person. It is not external to the person.”

A perpetrator being jailed might make the survivor feel more secure or give them a sense that justice is done, but Vivienne says that the support infrastructure required by the survivor needs to be better, more responsive, and for longer.

She says that some people can endure unimaginable experiences, but what will hurt them more is a sense — whether it is from a parent or a loved one, or others charged with helping them — that they are not believed.

For Ruth, leaving aside the errors in the legal system — such as the time the wrong probation report was brought to court, delaying sentencing — the main issue was the fight to gain financial compensation for medical expenses and loss of earnings. 

Slawomir Gierlowski is in jail for three and a half decades after life-changing violent attacks on Ruth Maxwell and other women. Yet Ruth says she has more contempt for systems that put obstacles in the way of victims 'when you're at your lowest point'.  Picture: Bob Morrison

Her experience was so bruising that she addressed the Law Reform Commission on the issue in 2019 and her recommendations are included in a report provided to Government earlier this year for consideration.

“I went through the wringer for four solid years with them and it was the most horrific experience I have ever had, ever,” she says.

“I would take 100 attacks rather than ever, ever have to deal with that again. The one place you think you would be looked after in a timely manner, and it was nothing like that. It was absolutely degrading.”

For Vivienne, survivors have already experienced “living outside their window of tolerance” and supports need to be available on an ongoing needs-must basis.

Fresh challenges, triggering events, and the passage of time can all mean some people who have ostensibly moved on with their lives need fresh assistance.

Ruth says: “I would love to see rehabilitation programmes for victims, I would love to see that. That the minute I was attacked I wasn’t just handed an A4 sheet of paper with the numbers of charities.

“I should have been handed directly to a victim support one-stop place of sorts, where all of my needs would have been served from the very beginning throughout the whole system and even now, where I would be receiving psychological support post-trial, physical support, tailored to my needs for the rest of my life, if I require them.

“That’s the main thing for me. That’s the main hope.”

The song can’t remain the same.

Counselling was refused after my attack by HSE as it wasn't 'financially viable'. I appealed, got 7 sessions late 2016. Nothing since, pre or post trial. It's unacceptable to not have multidisciplinary supports & services in place for all victims. @HMcEntee @SAFEIreland @NWCI https://t.co/Ee9W1L14Mi

— Ruth Maxwell (@RuthbMax) October 13, 2022

Ruth actively sought to assert herself wherever possible throughout her case, interacting with various agencies, ensuring that when it came to Gierlowski — a man described in court as dangerous and predatory and of leaving a trail of depravity — that he was someone whose punishment needed to fit his crimes. He seems to have shown no remorse or insight into his crimes. 

He does not accept the guilty verdicts of juries in three separate trials. Ruth understands he has already lodged an appeal to the conviction and sentence handed down this week.

She believes that sentencing parameters for knife crime and false imprisonment are still insufficient.

She does feel for the other women impacted and admires them for their strength and courage. She notes that some women were unable to attend court and deliver their victim impact statement. Yet, remarkably, Ruth doesn’t hold any hatred for Gierlowski.

“I have more contempt for the systems that are in place because there are so many obstacles and hurdles and trying to navigate them when you’re at your lowest point and so vulnerable and alone is the hardest thing you could ever do in your life.”

She recalls seeing her attacker in court recently.

“I was sitting there and looking at him, and I was totally shocked, he looked way older than me, he looked really bad, he wasn’t that fit, possibly handsome, toned, tanned guy he was in 2018. He was not that person anymore.

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“He was broken. That man was completely and utterly broken. I didn’t get any pleasure from it but I did get a moment that, right, everything has turned 360 degrees here: ‘I have my freedom, you’re done, you are absolutely finished in my eyes.’”

It brings her back to her own life and how she can move ahead. She says she will discuss the case, in child-friendly terms, with her grandchildren.

She wants her views on reform to become reality, not just for her but for anyone impacted by this type of crime.

She will continue to listen to the radio, and to the songs sent to her by her old friend Liam Ó Maonlaí: “He was saying ‘try this and try this’. They had me in tears, an emotional wreck. So I could be brought up in such a positive way.”

As part of moving ahead with her life, Ruth Maxwell says she will discuss the case, in child-friendly terms, with her grandchildren. Picture: Bob Morrison

It needs more than this to help those who need it, more than the radio as a comforter — but it’s still something.

Ruth remembers those messages to Late Date and to Fiachna, times when he knew what she was going through, and the listeners, out there in the dark, heard her. 

“I asked: ‘Can music really fix me?’ ” she remembers again.

“And he said: ‘Yeah, we are here.’ ”

• If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please click here for a list of support services.